6 Keys to a Lions Thanksgiving victory vs. Minnesota Vikings

Remember when the Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings back in Week? The Vikings haven’t lost a game since then.

Minnesota enters today’s Thanksgiving Day matchup as one of the hottest teams in football, having rattled off six consecutive wins. But while the Vikings have been executing at an impressive rate, overall they are very much the same team that the Lions faced earlier in the season.

I expect the Lions to stay relatively consistent in their approach, building on what worked before and trying to fix some of their issues of late.

3 Keys for the Lions Defense

Stop Adam Thielen

Keep the ball in front of them

Play gap sound defense

Wide receiver Adam Thielen has been a weapon for the Vikings lately, registering receiving stats of 98, 166 and 123 yards while also scoring a touchdown in each game over the three weeks. In week four, the Lions held him to 59 yards—and Glover Quin forced him into a game-sealing fumble:

Thielen splits his time between the slot and staying outside the hash marks, but he is effective in both areas. The Lions would prefer him in the slot, where he would match up with Quandre Diggs, but when he moves outside it will be interesting to see if Darius Slay travels with him or just sticks to a side.

The Lions will also likely attempt to continue to deploy a bend-but-don’t-break defensive philosophy until their pass rush can correct itself. This strategy slows the game and prevents big plays, while also allowing the Lions to bait the Vikings into mistakes and possibly turnovers.

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3 Keys for the Lions Offense

Let Matthew Stafford hunt some Turkey Holes

Keep Stafford upright

Stay on the field

Jon Gruden made the “Turkey Hole” famous on Monday Night Football when the Lions faced the Packers—but despite the silliness of the name, this is an area of the field where the Lions have attacked with success all year.

Check out the graphic below to better understand where the turkey hole is and then click the video below that to see how the Stafford targeted Marvin Jones there in their previous game against the Vikings.

In all seriousness, the Lions/Stafford hit a couple of hole shots versus the Vikings in Week 4. Wonder how much spot drop 2 deep zone we'll see on Thursday from Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/klEMcA7gC5

Since the bye week, the Lions have been very aggressive attacking deep and Marvin Jones has been the beneficiary. According to Pro Football Focus, when Stafford throws to Marvin Jones 20+ yards downfield, Jones has caught eight of 17 targets for 257-yards and three touchdowns. Expect the Lions to continue to take deep shots with Jones on Thursday.

The Lions offensive line is finally healthy and while they are still trying to gel, we are witnessing some glaring mistakes in pass protection and run blocking. The Lions will have their hands full with the Vikings stout front-four and will need to be better than they were last week and in their last meeting in Minnesota.

One of the surprising factors in the Lions week four win over the Vikings was the success Ameer Abdullah had running the ball. Abdullah rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown, keeping the Lions offense on the field and controlling the tempo of the game.

Matching that output will be extraordinarily difficult—but hopefully, the Lions coaches studied what worked last time, and have a plan in place to attempt to replicate the results. If the Lions can control the clock, that will go a long way to securing another key victory against a division opponent.